The Werewolf Effect
by MistirMiss
Summary: During Casey's (and the marauders) third year at Hogwarts, it starts to become clear that Remus Lupin is a werewolf, and the main character starts to figure it out as the marauders figure it out.
1. Chapter 1

The Hogwarts Express was magnificent. As eager as I was to see Hogwarts again this year, the train alone always seemed like enough magnificence to last me for a while.

Platform 9 3/4 was crowded as always, so it was difficult for me to find my friend. Eventually, it was she that found me. I heard her call "Casey!" And instantly I started spinning around, looking for her. All of a sudden, she sprang up in front of me.

"Mona!" I shouted, and pulled her into a massive hug. "How have you been the last few days?"

"Oh, I've been great." Mona answered. "I got a pet toad!"

"A toad?" I asked, wrinkling my nose. "I got to bring my cat this year." Then I paused. "Where's your stuff?"

"Oh, I put it on the train already." Mona answered offhandedly. Then she grabbed my trunk and carried it onto the train all by herself. I marveled at her strength even though I had seen it for years. She had joined the Ravenclaw quidditch team last year and was one of the best beaters the Ravenclaw team had ever known. I, meanwhile, was into books and was the top of all of my classes, easily falling to the muggle-born stereotypes.

We found a compartment together and and eagerly started predicting what would happen in our third year at Hogwarts. This year we would both be taking Care of Magical Creatures, and there was rumored to be a new teacher this year.

Then we started talking about who the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be. The last one had been fired for making a seventh year drink a love potion as a punishment for disrupting the class.

"Whatever teacher we get, I hope they're not like that." Mona told me, shuddering. I agreed.

"What would be worse, though, is if it were one of Voldemort's followers." I pointed out.

"What is he even trying to accomplish?" Mona sighed.

"I don't know. I'm just waiting for that creep to go on a murder spree." I replied.

We sat in a sad, awkward silence, and then Mona said, "Do you have any money? I'm starving."

I smiled ruefully. "I'm not the one with wizard parents. You have all the money."

Mona sighed. "Shame. I was hoping to save up for that new broom." She got up and left the compartment to find the witch with the food cart.

I waited by myself for a while. Then, suddenly, the compartment door opened and four other Gryffindors walked in. I recognized them at once. They were James Potter, the amazing Gryffindor seeker, and Sirius Black, a Gryffindor from a family of Slytherins. Then there was Remus Lupin, who seemed almost like he should've been a Ravenclaw like Mona, and Peter, who I had never liked.

They all filed into my compartment without noticing me, and I tried to ignore them. The problem with those people was that they were bullies to practically everyone. Even though I had some immunity against their willingness for them to hex me (I was a Gryffindor as well as them) I didn't want to provoke them.

The four boys took their seats, and that was when they finally noticed me.

"What are you doing here?" Peter sneered at me.

"I was here before you..." I said in a small voice, hoping that none of them would get the urge to jinx me.

"Wait... You're that Ravenclaw girl." Sirius said.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but it's not me. I'm in Gryffindor." I corrected. "My friend, though, is Ravenclaw."

"I haven't seen you in the common room though." Lupin told me.

I smiled slightly. "I do sleep in the Ravenclaw Common Room at times." I told them.

"You what?" Sirius and James snapped at the same time. "You can't do that!"

"Obviously I can." I told them. "All you have to do to get in is answer a question."

"Wait..." James said. "Tell us where the Ravenclaws sleep."

"No!" I told them. "I'm not going to just let you terrorize the Ravenclaws!"

"If you like the Ravenclaws so much, why didn't you join their house?" Peter sneered.

"Because I like Gryffindor more," I said. "I chose to be in Gryffindor."

"You can't choose a house." James snapped.

"How do you think Sirius didn't end up in Slytherin?" I asked. By now I was holding onto my wand, which I kept out of sight.

All of a sudden the four of them were glaring at me. At that point, everything might have still turned out okay.

Then Mona came back, and sat down beside me, saying, "I hope Ravenclaw wins the quidditch cup this year. If I have to look at the smug look on Potter's face-" she broke off as she saw the four boys sitting there. "What's going on, Casey?" She asked.

"You're rooting for Ravenclaw?" James asked in disgust.

"No, I'm not-" I said, but was interrupted by Peter, who tried to Jinx me. Mona shouted "Progreto!" As I went to hex the boys, and they tried to hex me in return. The train had only been moving for half an hour, and we were already fighting.

"STOP!" Mona was shouting. "RIGHT NOW! STOP, ALL OF YOU!"

The attempts of us all to injure another slowly stopped, and then Mona glared at Peter. "You had no right to do that. Come on, Casey, let's go."

"No, we were here first." I told Mona, glaring at the boys. All of them were glaring back. "They can leave if they want."

The boys made no move to leave, though. They sat down on their seats again, as did Mona and I, on the other side of the compartment.

The boys started to talk to each other, and kept shooting the occasional glare at us as they spoke. Mona and I did the same to them.

At long last, it was time to leave the train, and head into the school. Quickly I pulled the school robes on over my head and followed Mona out of the compartment before the boys could do one last act of violence against us.

Mona and I shared a cart for the ride to the school, and we watched some first years with amusement as they nervously got inside one of the boats. It was an uncharacteristically warm night, so I guessed that it was the sorting that was making them nervous.

As we waited for the cart to start, Lupin ran up to us. "Sorry about Peter and the others." He said. "They're too eager to fight." And then he ran off.

"Weird." I said, as Mona and I stared after him.

"Well, it's an apology, and I'll take it." Mona decided, and pulled me into the cart.

We rode up to the school in the cart, and then I finally saw the view I had been looking forward to all day: The Hogwarts castle. "There it is!" I said in amazement.

"This is the third year we're going to be here now, and yet you're still amazed whenever you see the castle." Mona said to me, rolling her eyes.

"This school is my saving grace, remember?" I asked. It was true. I had always lived close to Mona, and I had always known that she was a witch, but I had never expected to be, and my parents had been preparing me for a job I didn't want: to be the next manager of The Breakfast Shack. So I had taken boring classes for business and management and had dutifully accepted that I was going to have a really sucky life, until at last I got a letter from Hogwarts. My parents hadn't wanted me to go, so I ran away, and Hogwarts had been better than I had ever imagined.

We flooded into the Great Hall with the other students, and then we split up. I sat near the middle of the Gryffindor table, and I saw Mona sit at the head of the Ravenclaw table.

After a while, the first years filed into the room, and the Sorting Hat was placed on a stool in front of the entire school.

All of the older students leaned forward to hear the hat's song, me among the. Finally and suddenly, the hat opened up its raggedy mouth and began to sing:

"Welcome to the ancient school

made to teach magic to you

By chivalrous noble Gryffindor

and Slytherin, eager to teach all more.

Ravenclaw added knowledge to the lot

and Hufflepuff taught all, and cared not

I know I'm not to look at

and yet I have power to see

by judging what's inside his head

I know where you ought to be

The cunning among you youngsters

will meet those of your kind

The natural Ravenclaws among you

will go to the house of the wise

Those of you who are the bravest

will go to the house of red and gold

And the most hardworking and loyal of you all

Will go to Hufflepuff, the house that's of your call

As ratty a hat as I may be

and though I know I was not made to sing

I can help you find your kind

and so you'll find friends of your same mind"

The hat ended its song, and we all started to cheer. I turned to Raina, a girl who was in my year, and said, "The hat's song was a little weird this year, wasn't it?"

"What?" Raina asked loudly, clearly not able to hear me.

I grinned slightly and turned back to the sorting. Two girls and a boy went to Ravenclaw, and three boys joined Gryffindor. Slytherin got two new arrivals, and Hufflepuff got six- who they positively exploded for.

Then it was time for Dumbledore to give his pre-feast speech. He stood up and and said, "It is almost time for school to start again… There's only a few more hours. I would like to introduce our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Animalia." He paused, and a small witch with short, frizzy brown hair stood up, and nodded to the school before sitting down. Dumbledore continued. "Also, I would like to introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Murus." A wizard stood up in the row of teachers, who was wearing flashy blue dress robes.

"He looks kind of conceited." I muttered, and this time Raina heard me.

"I think he's handsome." She replied.

Once again, Dumbledore continued. "I would like to remind certain students that the Forbidden Forest and the Whomping Willow are to be avoided at all costs."

I swore that at that moment, Dumbledore looked sternly right at Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. They were all laughing quietly and trying to cover their mouths.

Obviously they found that statement funny.

"I would also like to remind you all that all jinxes, hexes, and curses are not allowed, and no magic is to be used in the hallways between classes. Some of our students would do well to learn that." again, he looked at the four boys. "I think I've talked enough for now, so let the feast begin!"

The plates magically filled up with food, and I finally had time to catch up with the other Gryffindors in my year (barring the four bullies of Gryffindor). Raina had spent the summer in Spain, and Lily Evans had been home at her house the entire time. Vanna Milo, a tall girl with black hair, had stayed at her Uncle's house while her muggle mother divorced her wizard father. Otto Olsson had written a play, and it had actually been published as a book in Switzerland.

Finally, I was full, as was everyone else sitting around me, but dessert was just starting. Huge puddings and cakes popped up on the table, and even though I suspected that if I were to eat anymore, I'd puke, I still tried a slice of one of the pies.

And guess what? I threw up.

In front of the whole school.

Hooray to Gryffindor.

The whole table burst into laughter, and deciding to not get embarrassed, I started to laugh along with them. Who cared if I had just gorged myself to the point of throwing up on a delicious pie? As long as it didn't bother me, it didn't matter.

"Are you alright?" Raina cried.

"I'm fine!" I laughed, wiping my mouth. Then I swished some water around in my mouth, and spit it out into another glass. "There's no better way to start off the year than puking on your plate!"

Finally we were allowed to leave the table, and all the way up to the Gryffindor common room, people kept commenting on my puking. Even Potter seemed to have forgotten the train incident as he said, "Next time, aim for a Slytherin!"

I laughed and rushed ahead, now eager to go to sleep and see my cat.

Outside the painting of the fat lady, we all lined up, and someone shouted, "What's the password?"

"Tessera!" Someone in the back shouted, and the door swung open, and everyone crowded in. I made a beeline for the girls' staircase, and soon I was settled in my bed, with my cat sleeping on my head. I couldn't wait for the classes to start.

_What do you think? I actually have a plan for this story._


	2. Chapter 2

The next day dawned, brighter and earlier than I would have liked. I hurriedly got dressed and hurried downstairs, hoping I could say hi to Mona before the schedules got handed out.

When I actually made it to the table, most of the Gryffindors were no longer eating and the food was about to vanish, so I hurriedly put some on a plate and started wolfing it down.

How could I have been so late? Mona wasn't even at the Ravenclaw table, and I knew that she was early for everything and she must have already left.

Professor Mcgonagall walked around the table handing out the schedules, and I saw with happiness that the first subject I had was ancient runes with the Ravenclaws.

After wolfing down some toast, I raced to the ancient runes classroom and waited for Mona to show up.

"Hi!" I said when she finally showed up. "Where were you?"

"In the library." She answered.

"Already?"

"I had to get a book on ancient runes-"

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have any competition, you know. You're a muggle born Ravenclaw."

"Muggle born doesn't mean intelligence." Mona sniffed.

"Sure it doesn't." I replied sarcastically. "Come on, let's see the book."

Mona pulled the book out of her bag with a sheepish grin, and it was massive. It had at least a thousand pages and was twice the size of our textbooks.

"By Circe, Mona!" I gasped. "That's got to be the biggest book you've picked up so far."

"It's going to be so useful." Mona said, looking at the book lovingly.

All of a sudden there was an explosion, and lots of shouting from the end of the corridor.

Potter and Lupin were standing in the hallway, and some second year from Slytherin was on his back with roach legs sticking out of his stomach.

"SAY THAT AGAIN!" Potter shouted at the boy.

The boy just tried to stand and run away, but then Potter hexed him again- now his fingernails were growing incredibly fast.

"Maybe you should stop." Lupin suggested, but he did nothing more to stop Potter.

"Nah," Potter replied, and then went to torture the boy in some other way.

"Expelliarmus!" Mona suddenly shouted, pointing her wand at James. James's wand flew out of his hand and on the ground at my feet.

The tension in the hallway was incredible. There was absolute silence- Mona had her wand out, still, even though her arm was shaking, and Lupin had his wand pointed at Mona- so I had my wand pointed at him. The entire corridor was watching, and the boy ran away.

"Should I?" Lupin asked Potter.

"Let me," Potter replied.

Lupin summoned James's wand, and the moment James got it, he sent a jinx at Mona.

"Progreto!" Mona and I both shouted at the same time, and the jinx bounced off of the protective bubble, shot past James and Lupin... And hit Professor Xi.

As soon as Professor Xi was able to stop tap dancing, he shouted, "Detention!"

Mona, Potter, Lupin, and I all found ourselves in the office of professor Xi only a few seconds later.

"Potter, I don't care how many times that poor boy told you that you were a git, that does not mean that you can hex him numerous times." Xi snapped. "And Lupin, you know better than this!"

"Professor, they messed with James. I had to do something."

"I'm talking about you standing by when Potter hexed the boy." Xi corrected. "You need to take charge in your little group, or I will go to Dumbledore and find a way to get you all separated."

"But Sirius and Peter weren't involved in this!" James protested. "You can't-"

"You will both have detention in two weeks."

"Professor, I can't have detention then." Lupin said quickly.

"Why not?" Xi snapped.

"I can't tell in front of them." Lupin said, nodding to Mona and I.

"Then you will serve the detention. I'll find something particularly nasty for Filch to have you do. Now leave."

Potter and Lupin both left, Lupin with a strained look on his face and Potter with blatant curiosity.

"Now Mona, what were you thinking?" Xi asked her. "you've never gotten in trouble!"

"They kept hexing that poor boy." Mona explained. "I couldn't do nothing."

"And what's your explanation?" Xi asked, turning to me.

"I can't leave Mona alone to fight Potter and Lupin!" I told him. "They're really good at spells and they're merciless."

Xi sighed. "You will both serve one detention for using magic in the hallways, but understand that you did the right thing. Next time, don't let your teacher get jinxed."

The moment we sat down in our seats in Ancient Runes, I knew that everyone had heard the story. They all stared at Mona and I.

Glancing at a clock, I saw that class had been going on for almost ten minutes already.

Xi appeared shortly after us to start the lesson. I didn't pay attention at all. All I could think about was the detention. I had never gotten a detention before, and it didn't feel good.

Looking over, I saw that Mona wasn't paying attention either. In fact, she had tear streaks on her face, and her eyes were red and puffy. She was taking it even worse than I was.

The rest of the day passed agonizingly slow. All I wanted to do was go back to my dormitory and sleep, but I had homework in Potions that kept me up too late.

Finally, I went to the dorm, where all the other girls were already sleeping. I collapsed on my bed without changing and fell asleep.

A huge mistake.

Suddenly, there was screaming, and I snapped awake to find Sirius's face staring down at me.

I screamed and sat up, and saw that his face was everywhere.

"What happened?" I shouted, standing on my bed in panic. "Who put all these Sirius posters up here?"

"I don't know!" Raina cried.

She was literally sobbing.

"Lily?" I asked. "Vanna?"

"I went to take it down... And it multiplied!" Vanna shrieked.

"I am going to KILL Black!" I shouted, and stomped out of the dormitory to find Black.


End file.
